In a certain sense, Azerbaijan's victory in Eurovision-2011 can be perceived regularity, because the steps taken by Azerbaijan in recent years in the region and in the international arena, its successes continue, the head of international relations department at Azerbaijani Presidential Administration, Novruz Mammadov told Trend.
"Azerbaijan's successes in the sphere of politics, economy and sports have been continuing for several years. These achievements cover all spheres, and this demonstrates that Azerbaijan is admitted in the world community in the ranks of European countries without problem.
That is, without any political motives, the European population perceives Azerbaijan as a partner, the example to which is the victory of Azerbaijan at Eurovision-2011. Azerbaijan's achievements in the sphere of music were assessed," he said.
Mammadov said this victory once more testified for Azerbaijan's leadership in all spheres.
"I believe that it needs to include this event in the series of successes achieved under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev. Successes will continue in the future. Such victories are easily gained with President Ilham Aliyev," said Mammadov.
Mammadov also expressed his attitude about the minority of votes cast in Azerbaijan by some countries.
"With regret, I want to mention that some countries closely cooperating with Azerbaijan such as Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Norway, Bulgaria, Denmark did not give Azerbaijan even three or four points. However, I don't assess it as they did not appreciate the art. They have their own definite position," said Mammadov.
Mammadov said with regret that some circles do not like the dynamic and comprehensive development of Azerbaijan, its transformation into a leader in the region, forming a powerful position in the international arena and they demonstrate their zealous attitude.
"Following this great victory, some western newspapers could not hide their bias, speaking about the victory of Azerbaijan.
They had biased attitude towards our dream to have the same feeling of joy during the return of the occupied territories. They sounded strange thoughts and did not hide their love for Armenia, indicating its failure to participate in the contest. The New York Times and Spiqel could not hide their bias. They even did not try to hide it. With some difficulty writing the phrase "Azerbaijan wins the Eurovision Song Contest", they immediately started to criticize Azerbaijan.
But this should not trouble us, our way is correct, the policy is independent, we have good cooperation with all countries and will go on this way," said Mammadov.
He said such victories unite the whole nation.
"People's going out to streets, especially young people, demonstrating their pride tell about the mood in the country. That is, the processes in this country are going on in the right direction. The population, community of Europe appreciated the works, the skill of our young people. From this point of view, our representatives really were worthy for the first place. Their powerful superiority in scores and championship demonstrated a high level of Azerbaijani art, because no rival could stand before them," said Mammadov.
Azerbaijani duo Eldar and Nigar (Ell& Nikki) who represented the country with the song "Running Scared" won Eurovision-2011 with 221 points. Italy / Raphael Gualazzi - "Madness Of Love" (189 points) ranked second, while the third was Sweden / Eric Saade - "Popular" (185 points). Azerbaijan received the highest score - 12 points from Russia, Turkey and Malta. Azerbaijan took 10 points from Ukraine, Greece, Croatia, San Marino, Romania and Moldova.
See Novruz Mammadov's statement also on his personal page on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NovruzMammadov